Meet at the Crossroads
by detrametal
Summary: Raven's made some decisions. Everyone agrees they were bad. They drove Gar away and now that he's back she's got a chance to fix things but they're all different from who they were when he left. Will a survival exercise change things or are they too far gone?
"So Raven's a whore?" the woman who was laying naked on Speedy's chest asked.

He stretched and sighed "Not at all. She just doesn't know who she wants." the archer said remembering his own romps with the half-demon.

"So who all did she sleep with?" asked his current bedmate.

"Uh, usually I wouldn't say anything but seeing as you're here now I think I can tell you." she giggled at his candid words "There was at least me, Aqualad, Red X, Robin and three other guys-a few were civilians if I remember right."

She looked into his eyes "She's a whore."

He rolled his eyes "No she's not. Up until she turned eighteen she thought she'd have to live alone but her powers grew enough that she could do whatever she wanted with them so she decided to try relationships. For one reason or another all of them didn't work, me and her are still friends but we'd never date again."

* * *

The original Titans Tower held a creature gaunt like a starving wolf. The twenty-three year old Garfield Logan- now called 'Formless' was the only virgin in the formerly Teen Titans. Robin married Star and Cy got hitched to Bee while Raven had started dating…and ignoring all his efforts to get her to notice him.

Formless was just getting back from a two year mission putting down insurgents in the middle-east. Stalking, not walking, into the tower was one of the best experiences he could remember.

Because it was quiet. Raven's room held Raven and no one else.

That was why he took the mission he wasn't expected to return from. To get away from her and somebody else.

Rolling his shoulders he walked into the main room after dropping off his things and was greeted by Nightwing. The surprised leader blinked rapidly "You're back!"

He chuckled and the sound sent cold tremors up Nightwing's spine "Yeah, we finished up. Didn't see a reason not to come home." Richard was about to get everyone else up but Gar stopped him "Let them sleep. I'll be here in the morning."

Richard, now far more relaxed said "Can I debrief you?"

Slumping on the couch with a contented sigh his green friend said "Already done, the League wanted to know and since it came via Batman it's all good."

An awkward silence filled the air before Richard scratched the back of his neck "I'm sorry." he near whispered "I know that I was an ass but-"

The growl that filled the air was heavy and it rattled Richard's bones "I said I never wanted to talk about it again. She made her decisions."

"You've changed a lot."

The observation was made innocently and Gar turned to look at his former commander, he knew Dick wasn't talking about the physical changes "Yeah."

"What happened?"

Gar's ear twitched as Dick walked the few steps to sit on the couch "Came to a realization."

"Yeah?"

"Remember Raven always thought she was going to be alone?"

"Y-yeah. That wasn't a good time for any of us."

"It's become my reality."

"What?"

Closing his eyes Gar answered as he relaxed for the first time in years "Nobody trusted me. Our side. Their side. People just caught in the. Nobody trusts a person that can't pass for a human. I ended up having to dodge everyone and do all of our side's work while they sat on their asses. If they saw me they'd shoot at me. At the very end, a few weeks before I left, the people caught in the middle decided since I had saved them so many times I wasn't an evil creature."

Dick stared with slack jaw "Are you serious?"

Not looking Gar leaned his head to the side and tapped the side of his neck were a bullet hole passed through "Millimeters in any direction and I would be dead. A gift from the C.O. of the camp I was assigned to."

Dick's teeth creaked from how tightly he was clenching them, he hissed through them "Please tell me he's dead."

"Nope. Bat's taking care of it though. He came in a few days ago and saw how things were going and went abso-fuckin'-lutely batshit. IF he survives he's going to wish he hadn't."

Anything else either of them were about to say was cut off when the missing quartet burst through the door looking for a fight. All six of them glanced at the people standing with them before the others. Raven had woken up when Gar growled and gathered Starfire, Cyborg and Bee when they couldn't find Richard and the strange aura was growing angry.

Very slowly Gar stood up and said "I'm going to bed. I've been traveling for over 24 hours and just want to get some sleep…I suggest you don't go into my room, Amyr isn't too keen on strange places with strange people."

Nightwing stopped him "Who's Amyr?"

A look of near reverence came over the newly returned man's face "He is a very, _very_ rare Arabian leopard." and he slipped out before another word could be said.

* * *

As he left Raven grabbed Bee and Starfire "Girl talk. Now." suddenly they were completely awake and they nodded before telling their respective husbands that Raven was about to burst with…something.

As they settled into Raven's room she double and triple checked the sound dampener before Bee got tired of the silence "Okay, what is it? Spill."

Pressing her index fingers together and blushing heavily the sorceress said "Uh, you know how I started dating?"

Starfire said "Forgive me friend but you were the 'slutty' as they say."

Raven looked at Bee for confirmation "Girl you were all over everybody but Gar."

Sighing Raven said "Yes I was. And I regret it because the one guy who I should have been looking at was under my radar."

Bee's ears would have perked up if they could have "You mean…?"

Afraid to admit it Raven did so anyways "I guess I'm in love with Gar. After I broke up with Mitch I took a look back at all my relationships and why they didn't work and made a list. The one person who had all the traits that I found lacking in the other guys was Gar. And I stopped dating after he left because I want him." it was something else to admit it to someone else and it came with realizations "God I want him. I want to cuddle with him, I want to hold his hand, I want to get married to him, I want to have kids with him, and, and…and…"

Starfire tilted her head innocently as Bee gave a Cheshire grin "And you want to have sex with him."

Star squealed and clapped her hands "Then you must tell him!"

As the alien jumped up Bee grabbed hold of her arm "Slow down girl! It ain't that easy right now. Gar's different and he doesn't know that she's in love with him. For all he knows she's still dating or just has a string of fuck buddies." Raven glared at Bee but the woman ignored it before countering "Raven, face it, you were quick to get into bed."

Raven sighed "And it's biting me in the ass."

Starfire had zoned out "Perhaps in the morning we could see this leopard he has brought home…but why would he keep a car in his room?"

Yawning and looking at the clock, the adrenaline wearing off, Bee said "Yeah, in the morning." and as they left Raven's room explained that it wasn't a jaguar and that that was both a cat and a car.

* * *

It was nearing noon when Gar stepped out of his room with the beautiful cat following him. Everyone noticed how their friend stalked now, his entire body loose but silent and how his senses were expanded to capture every bit of information. He sauntered into the kitchen before grabbing an apple and a filling the bowl they didn't see with water for his feline friend "Guys, meet Amyr."

He was over six and a half feet and 70 pounds of gorgeous golden cat that was watching them with vastly intelligent eyes. Starfire's eyes lit up "May we please touch him?" she was vibrating with pent up excitement.

"No." she looked at Gar with very sad eyes but he countered "It's not up to me." he held out his hand and she mirrored the gesture before he turned to the cat "Amyr, don't hurt these people, they're friends."

The cat looked at him as if to say "You have friends?…other than me of course." Gar rolled his eyes but the leopard carefully made his way forward before sniffing her hand and nodding, giving permission to pet him. The rest of the room was stalk still waiting for the cat to go for her throat or something.

The cat was enjoying the attention before he turned to Cyborg and jerked his head up in the universal sign for " 'Sup?" slowly but surely over the next hour the group warmed up to the large cat and found themselves petting him and letting him just laze about as Beast Boy often did in feline form.

The main computer let out a trilling tone that signaled a call, the emblem on the screen showed who it was. Gar walked over before connecting and Batman greeted calmly "Formless."

"Batman."

Gotham's hero looked at the group before asking "Are you okay with them hearing this?"

"Sure. Why not, they were bound to find out sometime."

Batman sighed heavily "General Dox is still adamant that you were the one at fault, and one on the council agrees."

Formless hissed before saying "Patch me in." the call was now three ways with Batman as the official liaison between the United States Armed Forces and the Justice League, the Council of Generals as the official reviewing body for claims against the Armed Forces that would be considered treason and Formless of the Titans as the one making the claim.

The Council looked like it was about to go to arms amongst itself when they saw them, all of them were older men, two Caucasian, one of African decent and the other of Asian. In front of each of them was a small card, two were abstaining, one was a 'yes' and the other was a 'no' with the Caucasians each voting.

The one that voted yes, and the two abstaining were beyond orderly, each of them had a wealth of experience, wisdom and charisma, they were dressed immaculately and had all the feel of a true leader.

The other, in comparison, looked like a slob. He had hair sticking out randomly and subtle stains were apparent on his jacket, he was slouched back in his chair and tried to look confident but his eyes kept darting around like he knew one of them was about to pin him to the chair with a knife.

They only noticed that Formless was sharing a screen with Batman when a deep growl of " **General Kaln**." that cut through the din of the yelling in the room. All of them jumped but the sloppy general who's name was called fell out of his chair while the others saluted.

General Rosem said in a gentle voice "Forgive us Formless, we know you have just returned home but we are still at a disagreement." his Asian heritage came through in his wording "I do not believe we have enough information to make a conclusion, General Smith agrees."

The 'yes' voter, one General Albright said "I believe that this warrants immediate removal. This is a disgrace to us as a nation!" he was tight with barely controlled anger.

Kaln looked around with shifty eyes "There's no way that Dox would allow that." everyone listening could tell he was lying out his teeth but he had voted. "If he did why didn't-"

" **Kaln, listen well. I don't care what you believe or don't believe. You have had eighty-eight requests to remove Dox. I was sent in not only to do the mission** _ **he**_ **was assigned but to see if these allegations were proven true. Since the documents in question were 'disappeared' by the base they were sent from the government of the country to the Justice League itself. As their representative and the only person on the ground I know what I saw. I know that I was shot. I will stand against Dox that you apparently are so enamored with because he got to his position faster than you did by doing nothing."** Formless's voice demanded the utmost respect and left no doubt as to what would happen if the vote didn't swing the way he wanted.

Batman too a moment after the deafening silence "All in favor of removal?" three hands went up and Formless cut the feed.

Gar flopped onto the couch with a deep, loud, long hiss and the only one who approached him was Amyr who laid his head on Gar's knee.

Raven asked quietly "Gar, what happened out there?"

He replied with a huff "I went expecting to be a soldier but ended up being a survivalist. I survived everything they could throw at me, I found water in some of the most desolate places on earth. I survived it when I shouldn't have had to."

Nightwing was stunned but said "Could you teach us?"

"Of all of you only Raven could do it."

Raven asked in confusion "What?"

Gar pointed to Cy "There's no electricity so no charging station," then to Nightwing "No 20,000 dollar bed for your back, " Star looked interested then horrified when he said "No mustard. And this would be without using your powers."

Bee chuckled "Then I'm out."

Raven said "We'd all be."

Gar closed his eyes and laid his head back against the couch as his hands gently rubbed Amyr's face "No, you'd be _hindered_ , you use your powers but have no trouble working without them. And you're a quick study so you can pick up things faster than anyone else here."

* * *

They would leave on Tuesday for a small deserted island a few miles off the coast of southern Oregon that was owned by Mento and where Gar himself first learned his trade. While he had been dropped off by himself for a month Raven would have Gar watching over her. For the first week he would watch and only interfere if she was in life threatening danger then the next three would be spent perfecting the skills she had and teaching her new ones.

On Sunday Gar told Raven "I need a list of everything you carry normally."

She blinked "Why?"

"So I can prepare your kit, take out what you don't need anymore and replace it with stuff that will give you a better chance to survive should you run into any trouble."

She shrugged and led him to her room where she tossed a belt on the bed "That carries everything since I don't have pockets."

His nose twitched as he noticed there was no scent of anyone else, meaning that nobody had been here for sufficient lengths and there had been no scent on her other than her usual perfume, shampoo soap etc. She had stopped having sex for at least three months. He pushed that out of his mind harshly and focused on what he was here for.

He pulled the small covers off the compartments and scanned each item internally cataloging it for later. She should have been disturbed by how deeply he was concentrating, even on the contents of her wallet but she wasn't. Oddly, it was comforting, thinking about having him back and watching out for her made her well with happiness.

Of the four compartments that held things he took out the contents of one and replaced it, the few convince store packets of medication were replaced with army issue water tight packages, one more compartment was filled with something she didn't recognize and he looked up "One more thing." he returned a few minutes later with a look like he was debating something heavily.

She was wary "What is it?"

He seemed to have come to a conclusion because he said "I'm giving you one of my survival knives. You will carry it at all times." he showed her how to tuck it against the back of her belt to conceal it before he put an end to it "Night." and walked out leaving her off balance.

She pulled the knife out of the sheath and set it on the bed to study it, the handle was long for her but she guessed that was because it was made for Gar. It was far heavier than she expected but she knew it was solid, the metal was nearly black and the blade was smooth on one side with serrations on the back not on the tip or close to the hilt but the middle third, they were deep and she picked up the knife to flick the side and it let out a chime like note.

The handle was thick elasticized rubber with a special grip tape fused into it in three circles up from the metal circular hilt. The cap was metal and running her finger along the rim she felt a small dip and found it unscrewed and a rubber gasket kept the area inside water tight. A compass was set inside the cap and dumping out the contents of the secret compartment she wasn't surprised to see a striker but was to see a needle in a plastic case with several dozen feet of a very fine flexible wire.

She put the knife up and tried the belt on and smiled. She liked the weight across her lower back, it was like someone had their arm around her waist. Like Gar had his arm around her waist.

* * *

He kept her pack a surprise until they got to the island, including what she was wearing she had three cloaks, two leotards, two sets of boots, her belt with knife and a wire saw that he taught her to hide wrapped around the knife sheath.

When she looked up he told her the rules "I won't step in until either the week is up or you're about to do something that could end up in your death. You're not allowed to use your powers without permission."

She nodded and said "What do you suggest I do first?"

He responded by turning into a bird and fluttering to a branch in front of her. She started thinking aloud to get him in line with what she was thinking "Well it's not too hot but I need to find water and this time of year it won't get too cool at nights so I can sleep in a tree or something." she walked a bit further inland before she found a small river and bent down and took a drink before looking around "I guess I need to find some food." she looked around and found several mushrooms before looking around in the near dark in surprise.

Quickly she tallied the time in her head, they had started out around noon and it had taken an hour to get there on top of three to get the island lay out and find water and another four to find enough food for a few days. She dropped the mushrooms at the base of a tree and climbed up until she could wedge herself in a fork in a branch.

Her ever present avian companion settled in another tree and she smirked "This isn't so hard." the bird looked at her dubiously and she continued "Good night."

"Whoa, hold your horses!" the green man said as he shifted back to his human form. She looked up in shock "Aren't you gonna do anything?"

She blinked "Like what?"

"I don't know, strap yourself in?"

She looked down, maybe ten feet to the ground "Do you think I need to?"

He closed his eyes tightly "If I didn't think you needed to badly enough I wouldn't have spoke up."

She grabbed a vine and wrapped it around her waist and nodded "Good?"

He sighed and turned into a butterfly, even as he flitted over she realized that earning his approval would be beyond her, at least for these first few days. "I prefer the two rope method, it reduced strain on both you and the ropes if you fall." the first rope went high, just under her breast and the other one was slung low about her hips. He fluttered back to his branch and settled in as a bat. She fought down the blush that had appeared when the back of his hands touched the bottom of her chest.

* * *

The call came in Wednesday evening, Richard had called in for a status update to find Gar sitting at the base of a tree "How's it going?"

"She'd be dead by Friday." he answered then in a louder voice he said "And if she doesn't get those branches stacked I won't have to make her dinner!" the shuffling that accompanied that let him know that she was rushing.

"But it's only Wednesday!"

Gar rolled his eyes "I'm being generous, I doubt he'd have lasted another few hours without me."

"Alright, everything good?"

"As good as can be expected. How's Amyr?"

"Your cat's good, he's been sleeping on the couch and we'll start taking him around the island tomorrow."

Gar nodded "Formless out."

* * *

Several hours earlier they witnessed their first morning on the island and Gar was up before her and in human form when she crawled down "What's going on?"

"I'm taking over" he said seriously "Go into a healing trance and heal yourself. Right now you've got a lot of toxins and pathogens in your system. Get them out and I'll start teaching you."

She looked at him in disbelief before she ran a quick internal scan and to her shock she would be dead in hours. Her healing trance only took a few minutes and when it was over she asked "What did I do wrong?"

He gazed at her oddly "More like what you _didn't_ do wrong." he pointed to the ground and they both sat down "What do you do when you need water in the wild?"

She looked at him like the answer was obvious "You drink it."

He groaned loudly and planted his face in his hands "You boil it. I don't care if you see a water sprite getting out you boil it!" then thinking he said "If I saw a sprite getting out of it I'd probably keep looking." he pointed at the mushrooms "Are you mycologist?"

"No? Why?"

His eye was twitching now "Some of those mushrooms are highly toxic. And the final nail in the coffin is you slept out in the open. Look at your legs, they're covered in bites and you could have gotten infected. I'm taking over. As of now."

The rest of the day was spent showing her how to boil water in the collapsible bucket he gave her without burning through it, he spoke of condensation collection and showed her to make a lean-to type shelter that sat several inches above the ground and where to put the fire so that only the bare minimum amount of smoke, enough to drive the bugs away, wafted around it.

Only after all that was done did he allow her to even think about food. During the day Raven had realized how deadly this seemingly innocent forest could be, mushrooms were off her list and she wasn't willing to learn how to gut at the moment so she was sticking to the fruits and plants Gar showed her.

He sent her off to gather fire wood with a promise of dinner. Surprising her he cooked the fruits on a rock with some fruit juice until it created a glaze and she couldn't keep away from. She skewered a piece of pineapple with a stick and blew on the near molten syrup she asked "So what's the hardest environment to live in?"

He popped a few seeds he had gathered in his mouth "Jungles or deserts. Jungles because you always have something that could kill you in arms reach and when it gets that humid sweat does nothing to cool your body. Deserts are the opposite. You have to learn to read all the signs to find anything, and you have to know what you can survive on and what you can't."

She nodded but stayed quiet for a few more minutes "This is a lot harder than I thought it would be."

He grunted in agreement but didn't say anything more.

Raven felt everything she had been dying to say to him start bubbling up "Can I tell you something?" He looked up from the fire but before he could respond she said "And you have to let me finish."

Part of him was nearly afraid at what would make her this fidgety but he was resolute "Alright. What is it?"

Raven took a deep breath and unclenched her white-knuckle grip and started.

* * *

You know that when I turned 18 I started to feel my emotions in full force, Lust in particular. I still saw you as the thirteen year old that decided that maybe we should be a team. Robin was every girls wet dream and he just broke up with Star, Lust was screaming at me and I knew he wouldn't sleep with me and run but he ended up breaking up with me for Star. In all honesty I was about to break up with him, he was too focused on his stuff and it bothered me to no end that he didn't spend much time with me.

Red-X always had hit on me and he was turning over a new leaf and we started dating…Jason was the opposite of Robin, he was the bad boy…but we didn't have an emotional connection and he was too much of a flirt so that ended quickly.

Speedy and Aqualad were pretty much the same story, they showed interest in me and were physically attractive. Speedy had the same problem as Jason and Aqualad was too narcissistic, to much into himself.

After you left I tried dating that guy you kept on calling "Goth" his real name is James. He's a nice guy but he couldn't understand why I do what I do. I tried dating a few more guys, one of them was a police officer and the other was a doctor but they didn't see…me.

I know you asked me out when I broke up with Jason and I threw you out a window. I couldn't feel worse about that. I wake up every day hating that I did it.

You had been gone a year when I realized that something was wrong with me. I took a look at the guys who dated me and made a list of what I wanted that they didn't have.

The list was you to a T. I realized I had been in love with you for a long time but I tried to ignore it because I still saw you as a kid. I treated you horribly and by the time I realized what I could have had you were gone.

I'm not asking for you to marry me right now but please just give me a chance.

* * *

Raven stared at Gar, beseeching, hoping that he would say something. Anything. The sun was setting but it felt like it was setting on top of her. She could barely breath with the pressure she felt.

"Well at least you acknowledge you fucked up." she looked at him hopefully "I won't be a conquest of yours. Ever. If I decided to date someone it's because I know that she'd be the one, if I mark her she's mine and I'm hers. None of this break up bullshit you pulled." he looked at her shelter "Gets some sleep."

* * *

The day after Gar had put the generals in their place Victor had tried teasing him when he learned that Gar had been offered a girl's hand in marriage the day before he left "Aw, big bad B! Poor girl had her heart broken!" his cybernetic brain kicked in "Wait…you're still a virgin?" he busted out laughing. Richard was partially successful in hiding his snickering but the girls couldn't find out why it was so funny.

Gar just stared with a straight face. "I got too much shit about that over seas. Laugh at it one more time and I won't be responsible for my actions."

Victor apparently thought he was joking when he went on "C'mon what's a matter man don't you like girls? Or do they scare you too mu-" he didn't get any further when Gar punched him in the mechanical side of his face hard enough to knock his human side out and his mechanical side in a hard reboot.

Gar had ended it by stalking out of the room with Amyr.

* * *

All night long that scene replayed in Raven's mind. It was a testament on how much he had changed. He was never afraid of the Titans but he had a fear of them throwing him out on his own so he rarely took out his negative emotions but bottled them up. His arguments with her were always about her, never him.

Now he didn't care, he had survived being hunted by everyone he met for two years. He told them what he really thought and didn't care if they didn't like it, he held back nothing and called it what it was. In the tower he had grown mentally and physically. Out there he grew emotionally and spiritually.

Strangely it was comforting, like they were on the same wavelength now and nobody was hiding anything. The playing field was level. The ball was in her court.

She woke up from a fitful but deep sleep, she was well rested and with a sense of calmness decided on her purpose: an answer.

She stepped out of the shelter and saw Gar smoking some fruit he found while she was asleep and sat in front of him "What do you have planned for today?"

"I'm going to teach you to gather anything you can use from the trees, fruits, nuts, vines, leaves in particular and then I'll let you take the helm until you run into a problem for the rest of the time. After we get back we'll go out again to somewhere else and do this again." he said as he put another piece of wood on the fire.

Raven took a moment to gather her courage "You never answered me last night. Do I get a chance?"

He stared at her "Earn it." and he stalked off leaving her wondering how to earn it.

She raced after him "How?"

He shrugged "Don't know."

She hissed in frustration "Then what would impress you?"

Gar turned to face her "Impress? This isn't about impressing me, it's about earning my trust and confidence. You have my trust because you've been my teammate for over a decade but you sure as hell don't have my confidence. You say it wasn't really your fault but you went through a bunch of guys in a very short period of time, so short in fact nobody can't say you weren't unfaithful."

"But I haven't dated or had sex in over a year." she said calmly, she wasn't trying to argue but find out what she could do.

He sighed and his shoulders fell "Raven" he said quietly "I'm sorry but this is me being an ass. I can't trust you like you want me to right now. I spend nearly a decade trying to get you to look at me and every time you tossed me aside. Now you think I can just take you back after watching you twist the knife with guy after guy?"

"This is more important than a lesson right now" Raven muttered as she grabbed his hand and led him back to camp "Yes, everyone agrees…including myself, that I was acting like a slut. I made bad decisions that keep coming back. But isn't that what growing up is about? Making decisions and learning from the ones that don't work?"

Gar's face was stone when he replied calmly "The decisions that made me grow up weren't mine to make. It was always somebody else playing with my life. Those were the decisions."

She thought about it before nodding, it was true. "What can I do?"

He sighed "No idea." he slouched down and closed his eyes.

She bit her lip "I'll make one more rash decision. Only time will tell if it's a good or a bad one though."

He looked up to question her but her kiss silenced him. He was still for several seconds before he seemed to realize that this was what she wanted and kissed her back, mirroring her moves.

She held onto his face as she stared into his eyes "I don't want anyone but you. I've looked around, I've done the bad decisions, I'm ready to settle down with the guy I love."

She couldn't get a read on his eyes, the light was playing with them and in turn causing havoc with her heart rate. "No flirting when we've got stuff to do." he said before walking off again.

Raven felt her hopes dash against the rocks before something caught her attention. She rushed off after him with a blush and an uncontrollable smile as she parroted "Only when we've got stuff to do…"

* * *

 **This is actually a bit of a weird piece for me and I'll let you guys in on a secret of mine…if I read something that's Raven and another guy I get a very sick feeling in my guts. Yeah, call me a dork, dweeb, idiot what have you but it's the truth. I tried to make this as almost a rehabilitation fic to see if I could put Raven in a relationship with someone other than Gar. This first step didn't work for my rehab but I think turned out nicely.**


End file.
